I think I have cemented my role as GEEK amongst my friends. Today I will spend close to 13 hours at the first EB Games Expo in Sydney. Teddy and I heard about this expo 2 months ago and we both have been wigging out about it. I'm not a gamer, that's for sure but the idea of being in computer friendly type convention culture with no My Little Pony (yes, I'm still a little bitter about that) had me in a tizzy. I would KILL to go to The San Diego Comic Con but the logistics are a bit iffy. So this gamer coulter here in Sydney will just have to soothe my geek needs until I hit the the lottery and can hit California or more of the geek/sci fi/ weirdo culture jumps the pond and comes over here. Teddy just wanted to play HALO 4. So now we're both happy.
He's brought a mate with him (don't I sound native!) and we have been juggling the "Crap! I don't want to be here with my mother" and the "Crap! I need my mom!" mindset all day. On one hand, dear Lord, no one wants to be here with their mother, but on the other hand I did stand in line for almost 3 hours to give them a chance to play the new Assassin's Creed game. I did get bonus points for that.
Many of my close friends are re-reading that last paragraph and blinking very hard. After all, I am the PIA mom who has steadfastly refused to allow Teddy to purchase the "cool" games like Call of Duty, Modern Warfare, Medal of Honor and yes, Assassin's Creed. I've been ruining his life and destroying his only hopes at happiness for at least 3 years now over these games, why the sudden change of heart? It's not actually a change of heart as much as its a temporary suspension of the rules. He's not getting the game but I did wait 3 hours in line so he could play it for 10 minutes. I did this because a few months ago he tried to snow me with a rather brilliant plan to try get me to like the new game.
See Assassin's Creed 3 is set in the American Revolutionary War and the main character is killing all the English soldiers. Teddy casually mentioned to me that he was a bit concerned that he wasn't learning enough about American History one day and lamented how sad that must make Dad and I-considering our love of US History. He then mentioned this new game coming out was set in the American Revolutionary War and how it showed all the battles and used the correct generals names. When he told me the title I just raised one eyebrow at him. This is when the con really started - He told me that he was offended that I would assume that he was asking for the game. After all, he knows the rules about THOSE games. See he just wanted to have a conversation about history with me.
It was fantastic. He blathered on and on for about 20 minutes about the merits of this game. You know, the EDUCATIONAL merits of it. Then he walked away. Let it go completely. Just left me thinking about how my poor son isn't learning about the history of his homeland. And his father has a masters degree in American Colonial History nonetheless. It was brilliant. Really, I give it two thumbs up. It might have worked too if I was the complete schmuck he thinks I am and I did NOT go look up reviews about the game on You Tube. First scene had the assassin guy slit the throat of the English soldier. Niiiccceeeeee.
So I waited until the next day and when he wasn't paying attention I mentioned how I looked up the game on You Tube. He stopped dead and without even looking at me he said, "You Tube?" "Yes" I said, "I looked up the EDUCATIONAL game you mentioned to me" Pause.pause.pause. "We'll, I never actually thought I'd get the game" he coyly mentioned to me. "That's ok Babe," I purred back at him, "that was a really good try. I'm really impressed how you used guilt and played on our worries about your education to try and get your way, it was impressive" "Yeah, we'll, you gotta try sometimes," he said a little dejectedly and wondered off.
True dat. Sometimes you gotta try. Most normal mothers would have been really angry about him trying to pull a fast one like that and yea, normally I would have been chapped. This is one of the joys of parenting though: you get to pick and chose when you're a hypocrite. I really was impressed by the thought, planning and effort that he went to in order to try and win. Maybe I can be impressed because I wasn't even remotely fooled by it. I'm not sure. Either way, there was no danger of him getting the game and wow..he did try for it. So I caved a little today and helped him play his game and he doesn't know it yet but he's getting an Assassin's Creed 3 t-shirt for Christmas.
So I sit here now being hypocritical about the game but enjoying the Hell out of myself. I don't care. I'm happy. Since I'm me though and can always find something to complain about I will voice 1 complaint.
No free wifi and no charging stations for electronic devices? Really EB GAMES?! For Chrissake, what market are you are you targeting here? Geeks who spend money on video games and electronic devices rather than going outside!!!! That's who! You want me to be here all day and I have no way to charge my phone? You people know how bad Apple has been about providing any real battery life for its products. Shame on you! I know you think that since its Australia you don't have to provide all the goodies that people in the US expect. However since I do have excess to a thing called the Internet (well, I did before my damn phone died) I do know that free wifi is offered all over the place in the US. If city buses can offer its, so can you. If you want people back next year think about offering these services, please.
In the meantime I will enjoy my cool new Expo t-shirt and at least for a 10 minutes today, I got to be a cool mom before I was regulated to waiting in the cafe for him to need me again. All in all, not a bad way to spend the day.
